# What has been the Democratic view of Russia/USSR over the decades? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747 "2017-10-24T17:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/1 "2017-10-24T17:57:31Z")
Right now, the opinion of Democrats seems to be overwhelmingly against Russia and Putin, especially ever since 2016 and the election and Russian trolls working on the Internet. (This is, admittedly, not from any scientific polling but rather just gazing at social media and some news sources.) But I wonder - from a decade-by-decade standpoint, how has the image of Russia or the Soviet Union fared among Democrats and the American left since WWII? 1950s - Democrats somewhat hostile against USSR? 1960s - Democrats less hostile to USSR? 1970s - more hostile, especially during Carter era? 1980s - less hostile? 1990s - even less hostile? 2000s - don’t care, not really hostile? 2010s - Crimea, 2016 election - now really hostile? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/2 "2017-10-24T18:52:24Z")
See [Obama’s rejoinder](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Romney+Obama+debate+the+eighties+called+foreign+policy&view=detail&mid=F01160650E688A1E57F2F01160650E688A1E57F2&FORM=VIRE) in the 2012 Obama/Romney debate. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/3 "2017-10-24T18:58:08Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But I wonder - from a decade-by-decade standpoint, how has the image of Russia or the Soviet Union fared among Democrats and the American left since WWII? After the break up of the USSR, there was hope that Russia would be a free and democratic member of the family of nations. [No reason for hostility](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/could-west-have-friends-russia-cold-war/), they wanted to be like us! > [@](#): > > Margaret Thatcher famously described Gorbachev as a man with whom she “could do business”, a recommendation that President George HW Bush took up when he travelled to Moscow in 1991 for what was billed as the first post-Cold War summit between the Russians and the Americans. Gorbachev was so delighted by Bush’s positive response to the idea that the two countries should work together to sort out the world’s problems that he hailed their discussion at the Grand Kremlin Palace as “a moment of glory” for his new approach to foreign policy. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/4 "2017-10-24T19:11:03Z")
Back in 1992, a lot people expected that Russia would be joining NATO and the EU in the near future. Those hopes fell apart as part of the breakup of Yugoslavia in the nineties. Russia took a pro-Serbia stand while the rest of Europe and America were trying to restraint Serbia. ---
**Author:** ![MedellinMike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@MedellinMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MedellinMike)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/5 "2017-10-24T19:21:27Z")
According to this 538 article [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/all-of-a-sudden-russia-has-become-a-partisan-issue/](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/all-of-a-sudden-russia-has-become-a-partisan-issue/) the favorability ratings for the USSR/Russia since 1974 at least haven’t varied much between Democrats and Republicans. It’s only in the last 12 months or so that this has become a partisan issue. I’m not sure why you think Dem’s would have had favorable views of them in the 60’s since it was Democratic presidents dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall, escalations in Vietnam, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/6 "2017-10-24T20:31:11Z")
What did the Democrats think? Not much different than the Republicans except for one thing. 1950s - Russians are Commies who will destroy us 1960s - Russians are Commies who could destroy us 1970s - Russians are Commies but we have to work with them 1980s - Russians are Commies _but the Star Wars defense is just stupid_ 1990s - Maybe we can work with Russia 2000s - If George W. Bush thinks he can trust Putin, who knows? 2010s - That didn’t work out well. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/7 "2017-10-24T20:35:58Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > What did the Democrats think? Not much different than the Republicans except for one thing. > > 1950s - Russians are Commies who will destroy us > 1960s - Russians are Commies who could destroy us > 1970s - Russians are Commies but we have to work with them > 1980s - Russians are Commies _but the Star Wars defense is just stupid_ > 1990s - Maybe we can work with Russia > 2000s - If George W. Bush thinks he can trust Putin, who knows? > 2010s - That didn’t work out well. 2020s- Hail to our Putin-installed Politburo! I don’t think there has been much change over the years and the parties really aren’t that different about the USSR/Russia. I think we work with them when we can and take non-military action when we can’t. Right now the Republicans seem blind to the danger that Russia poses to us, as long as it got their guy in, they’re fine with it. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/8 "2017-10-24T20:47:04Z")
> [@MedellinMike](#): > > According to this 538 article > > [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/all-of-a-sudden-russia-has-become-a-partisan-issue/](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/all-of-a-sudden-russia-has-become-a-partisan-issue/) > > the favorability ratings for the USSR/Russia since 1974 at least haven’t varied much between Democrats and Republicans. It’s only in the last 12 months or so that this has become a partisan issue. > > I’m not sure why you think Dem’s would have had favorable views of them in the 60’s since it was Democratic presidents dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall, escalations in Vietnam, etc. Thank you so much for giving a source of data instead of just an anecdote. I did look at the data (shame that’s dated Dec. 2016, as I’d be interested in more recent numbers on the “Recent views of Russia” graph. [Looks like Putin is more popular now than in 2015](http://news.gallup.com/poll/204191/putin-image-rises-mostly-among-republicans.aspx)Only democrats view him worse than then. But then, 2015 was a record bad year for him in American favorability. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-democratic-view-of-russia-ussr-over-the-decades/799747/9 "2017-10-25T09:14:19Z")
Not really on topic for the thread but… > [@kunilou](#): > > 1980s - Russians are Commies _but the Star Wars defense is just stupid_ To be fair, despite our lowered fear of nuclear holocaust, there’s still effectively nothing in the world to prevent the eventuality. And in the face of nuclear holocaust, a pipedream hope of creating something which can prevent it is still worth researching. I hope that we’re continuing to work the problem.